AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Where are you taking me?”
“There’s a cool place I know. It’s just around the corner.” I grin back at him. “Why else would I ask you to meet me in Dodge?”
Brent speeds up until he’s beside me and not being led by the hand. He grabs my waist, and then slides his fingers down to the rise of my ass. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to keep my hands off you long enough to have coffee. How about we head back to my car?”
“Hey!” I slap him away with a giggle, the mock-horror on my face not as fake as I’d like it to be. “Someone might see!”
The pretend teen-footballer gives my ass a painfully hard squeeze as he steps in front of me, turning to block my way. There’s an arrogant sneer to his mouth that sends a cold, hard shiver through me.
Instantly, my entire body is on high alert.
“No one’s gonna see,” he says through his sneer. “It’s just me and Red here, sweetheart.”
20
FYRE
There is no spot where I can park the van and still have eyes on Charlotte while staying out of sight of the street. It kills me not to be able to keep tabs on her, but I’m not an idiot. Giving ourselves away is a sure ticket to Nowhereville, Suckit.
I drum my fingers on the steering wheel. My fiancée has only just disappeared around the corner, but it already feels like she’s been gone for too damn long.
One minute, Gideon. That’s how long you can last without her. One fucking minute.
I kick open the van’s door and hurry to the corner of the alley, dropping into a crouch before peeking out behind a drainpipe.
The relief when I spot Charlotte’s bobbing ponytail is instant, and intense. And I dread it more than the next few moments of uncertainty because of what it says about my mental state.
What the fuck is wrong with me? I ask her to marry me, and suddenly I can’t think straight?
Is that why I keep thinking this is a mistake? Am I now incapable of doing the thing I’m most passionate about in the world, besides therapy?
Christ. I’m a fucking wreck.
I watch Charlotte walk up the street. That outfit works too well. She looks so fucking young and vulnerable.
A guy slips out of the electronics store, coming right up behind her. Every hair on my body stands on end, and I nearly go haring into the street to call the whole thing off. I reach behind me, hand hovering near the gun jammed in my belt.
There’s an easy end to all of this. One pedo down, thousands to go, but it’ll be a resolution where no one—except Brent69—gets hurt.
Charlotte spins around, but she’s blocked by the creep chatting her up so I can’t tell how much he startled her. He’s bigger than he looked on his profile photo…if that was him. Looks like he has the same color hair, the same letterman’s jacket, but he could have photoshopped himself to look younger. He certainly doesn’t walk with the gangly awkwardness of a teen like I used to at that age.
I force a smile, but I can’t force myself to stand and walk any more than I can stop breathing.
They can’t see me. Brent, especially, with his back turned in my direction. It’s obvious he’s alone, else I’d have seen someone else by now.
It’s fine.
Charlotte’s arms wrap around the creep, and I nearly have a fucking heart attack when I realize she’s hugging him.
Hugging. Him.
My motherfucking fiancée is…
I let out a slow breath, and will the rise of possessive rage to recede.
…the best goddamn undercover cheerleader in the fucking world.
My jaw is migraine-tight as I watch her grab his hand and lead him toward me. There’s a smile on her face, and from the way she skips as she walks, she doesn’t have a care in the world.
